


Tattoo Garden

by DNAGraceless



Category: Conviction (TV 2016)
Genre: Sam will probably show up somewere, aka the flower/ tattoo artist shop au no one asked for
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-11-21
Updated: 2016-11-23
Packaged: 2018-09-01 07:27:54
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 5,525
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8615038
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/DNAGraceless/pseuds/DNAGraceless
Summary: Tess Larson works at the Purple Lapel Flower shop. Hayes Morrison Runs the Bleeding Ink tattoo Parlour next door. Every two weeks Hayes comes in to buy four flowers with negative meanings to send to her ex, just to make sure he knows she still hates him. From this act of passive-aggressiveness grows a beautiful relationship.





	1. Chapter 1

The purple lapel was exactly the kind of flower shop Tess had always wanted to work in. Small, but not tiny, not a stall; quaint on a not to crowded side street a fifteen minute walk from her apartment, and across the road from a lovely park.   
If Tess had to fault it for anything, it would be the thin walls.   
Across a small alley on the left of the shop was a small tattoo parlour about the same size as the flower shop that blared music that didn’t exactly mix with a small peach coloured floristry.   
“We used to call in a noise complaint every other day but it only gets them to turn the music down for a few days before its back again.” Frankie explained, curling the white ribbon wrapped around a bouquet of pink roses.   
“How long have they been doing it?”  
“Ah, since they opened. So about three years. The owner’s actually pretty cool, once you get used to her. Her music taste is alright too when it’s not blaring half the day.”  
“Can’t you just ask her to turn it down?”  
“Nah, she only keeps it this loud when the place is empty, which couldn’t be that much longer,” Frankie glanced at the clock on the wall, reading 3:40. Sure enough, just moments later the music disappeared. 

Tess had been working at the florists for seven days when she first meets Hayes Morrison, the owner of the Bleeding Ink next door. Beautiful with pale skin, bright brown eyes speckled with darkness, long curly hair falling by her waist, messily half tied up to reveal lines of a tattoo peeking out from under the collar of her leather jacket.   
“You the new girl?” Is the first thing Hayes says to her.  
“Um, yes,” Tess says fiddling with the string in her hand.   
“Are you unsure?” Hayes asked, raising her eyebrow.  
Tess blinked. “I… I’m Tess.”  
“Hayes. I need four Yellow Carnations.”  
Tess hesitates for a moment before nodding and walking over to one of the vases, searching before her eyes lock on the small bouquet of yellow Carnations near the back.   
“Here you go,” Tess said, returning to the counter, “Would you like them tied?”  
“Just the twine,” Hayes said, nodding towards the plain string to Tess’ right. Tess unwound it around her hand, wrapping it around the four flowers.  
“Just a bow?”   
“No just knot it.” She didn’t seem too invested in the conversation, despite being the one being served.   
“Would you like a card?”  
“Yeah, Frankie usually orders-”  
“I got it,” Frankie called, walking in from out back, holding a small piece of cardboard in his hand. Tess recognised it as a meaning card; a small brown card with white writing on it telling the recipient what the flowers symbolised. Frankie handed it to Tess and began making small talk with Hayes.   
Tess read the card as she tied it on, blinking in surprise.   
Carnation, Yellow; You Have Disappointed Me  
Rejection

She finished tying it on and handed it to Hayes with a well wishes for her day. She waited until the silver bell on the door chimed before turning to Frankie.  
“What was that about? Are all of her cards like that?”  
“Yeah, pretty much. She orders flowers with negative meanings about once every one to two weeks.”  
“Why?”  
“She sends them to her ex to ‘make sure he knows she still hates him’. Apparently the guy can’t take a hint.”  
Tess mulled over the thought for the rest of the day. The rest of the week, in fact. She had only just begun to forget about it when twelve days later Hayes walked back in and requested the four orange lilies on the far table.   
Lily, Orange; Hatred  
“How are you today?” Tess asked pleasantly as she tied up the lilies. Hayes wasn’t wearing her jacket today, revealing a full sleave from her neck to her palm on her left hand, and from her shoulder to mid forearm on her right, her Aviator glasses pushed up into her hair.  
“Fine. This back piece is a pain in the ass,”  
“What’s the piece about?”  
“A ship wreck on some rocks. It would actually be pretty amazing is the guy could stop changing his fucking mind.”  
Tess nodded, picking up the card where Frankie had left it for her and laced the string through it.  
“Is it just you in the shop?” Tess asked.   
“Nah, I’ve got another girl in with me.” She ran her hand through her hair and Tess noticed the black, silver and red patterns on her nails.   
“Where did you get your nails done?” Tess blurted. Hayes looked down at her hand and Tess got a better look at the design. Little red riding hood inspired, but Tess got the feeling it was a little more Brothers Grimm and a little less bedtime story.   
“My shop. Maxine does nails while people get tattooed or wait. Yesterday was pretty slow.”  
“They’re nice.”  
“Thanks.” Tess gave her the bouquet, once again wishing her a good day. 

The routine continued for another four months, until sometime mid-July a three week period had gone by with no sight of Hayes.   
“It probably just slipped her mind,” Frankie shrugged, writing out the orders for the next week.   
“What did she order this time?”  
Frankie looked over at the table by the back door.   
“Petunia’s. The shops open you can take them over if you want. They’ll probably be dead soon; although she’ll probably like that.”  
Tess waited until Frankie ducked into the back office before grabbing the four Petunia’s and wrapping them in twine, tying the card (Petunia; Resentment, anger) to the string and calling out to Frankie to let him know she was going to lunch.

 

Tess flinched as the door to Bleeding Ink buzzed upon being opened.   
“Hi,” Hayes said after a quick glance up from where she was sketching on one of the beds.   
“Hi,” Tess responded, looking around. The inside of the shop had completely caught her by surprise. She had been expecting something similar to the flower shop, but it seemed the only similarity was the size of the front.   
The walls of the shop were a dark red slightly purple colour, almost every surface covered with framed pictures of artwork, tattoos or mirrors. Four beds each three metres apart sat on the right hand wall, the office jutting out of the far wall. Looking up, Tess could see the high ceiling with a landing type area above, and the wall between the tattoo parlour and whatever had been next door had been broken by two large doorways stretching from the floor up to the landing, breaking the tattoo parlour apart from what looked like a lounge. Everything was so clean and shiny and Tess was snapped out of her examination as the music blaring was suddenly cut off.  
“What’s up?” Hayes asked, sliding off the bed, her boots thudding against the checker floor.   
“Oh, uh, the Petunia’s arrived last week. I thought you’d like them before they started to die.”  
Hayes dropped her sketch pad onto the table next to the second bed and walked over, taking the flowers from Tess.   
“Thanks. The moneys in the office,”  
Hayes slowly wandered to the centre of the shop as Hayes walked into the office to grab the cash. Tess noticed the spiral staircase reaching up to the second floor in the far doorway.   
“Here,” Hayes said, appearing again. She held much more than the twelve dollars for the latest bouquet. “This should cover my tab,” It was only then Tess noticed that Hayes hadn’t actually paid for any flowers in the five months Tess had been serving her. She felt like such an idiot.  
“Right, thanks,” Hayes walked past her, back to the sketch pad and falling onto the purple leather button lounge against the left wall.   
“What are you working on?” Tess asked. The sketch pad was rather large, “The back piece?”  
“No, the prick backed out. I’ve kept the design though, figured I’d frame it. It was a good idea, pretty annoyed I don’t get to do it.” She held up the pad so Tess could see. It was a led drawing; in the foreground was the prow of a ship peeking out of the water, jagged rocks cutting the dark water. Taking up two thirds of the background was a rocking cliffs face, sails and other parts of the ship littered on the rocks, water, or sticking out behind the prow  
“That’s amazing.” Tess said.  
“Thanks,” Hayes said, shading the water around where the sails were draped over a pointed rock. “It would have looked amazing as a tattoo.” She seemed deeply annoyed that she wouldn’t get to do it.  
“Well at least there’s no rush now. You can finish it in your own time then it’ll be ready when someone does want it.”  
“Yeah well, that asshole shouldn’t have been on my ass about it for three months if he was just gonna back out. All that stress and I didn’t even get to do it.”  
“Sorry,” Tess offered.   
“It’s fine. Heard he went for a haunted house scene at Royal Blood; place is overpriced as hell.”  
Tess had actually heard of Royal Blood.   
“My roommate got her tattoo there.”  
“What did she get?” Hayes asked, getting up and placing the book on the second bed. She took out her phone and kicked out a stool, standing up on it to take a picture of the now complete scene.   
Tess pulled out her own phone, looking for the picture her roommate had placed on Facebook.   
“Here,” She said, holding the picture out for Hayes to see. Hayes’ hand wrapped around Tess’ own to get a better look.  
“How much?” Hayes asked, unaware of the pins and needles shot through Tess’ arm.  
“Four seventy,”  
Hayes raised an eyebrow, “For thirteen words and some angel wings? Fuck me,”  
Tess supressed her thoughts, getting out of the app and putting her phone back in her pocket.   
“How much do you charge?” Tess asked out of curiosity.   
“Eighty an hour,” Hayes answered, taking several pictures of her artwork. “I’ve got pamphlets over there,” She said, gesturing vaguely to the desk near the front. Tess walked over and picked one up.  
Eighty an hour for a tattoo, fifteen dollars for earlobe piercing, all other piercings were forty five dollars, except belly buttons and industrial, which were fifty. Nails were six dollars each plain, price for artwork depending.   
“You interested?” Tess turned around. Hayes was still standing on the stool, flicking through what Tess assumed were the pictures she’d just taken.   
“Pardon?”  
“In tattoos? Piercings? Anything like that?  
“Oh. Um, I don’t know, I don’t really like needles,”  
Hayes smiled, giving a small laugh. “I get that a lot. It’s really not the same. If you have a low pain tolerance though I wouldn’t recommend it. Or if you’re a shit conversationalist. Trust me there’s nothing worse than sitting there for two hours with some boring guy who can’t put two sentences together.” She stepped down from the stool and rolled down the sleeves of her blue flannel before taking it off, draping it on the chair behind her, leaving her in a black singlet.   
“Who did yours?” Tess asked, mostly for an excuse to stare at her arms.   
“This place in Brooklyn, Golden Heart. The owners an old friend. They charge cheaper for tattoos and do really amazing work but it’s impossible to get a reservation unless you know the owner.” Tess nodded, looking at the wolf face through the trees on her arm.  
“They’re nice.”  
“Thanks,” Hayes put on a leather jacket and grabbed the Petunia’s from the counter.   
“Come on,” Tess followed her onto the street and watched as she locked up behind her.  
“What are you doing?”   
“Maxine doesn’t get in for another hour. I have til four to drop these off. Wanna come? Lunch is on me,”  
“Sure,” Tess shrugged, following Hayes around the back to where a vintage looking red car was parked. Hayes drove them to a tall apartment complex with a quick pit stop for coffee, Tess trailing after her up the front steps of the building.   
“Not to pry or anything, but why exactly do you send this guy flowers?”  
“After we broke up I still had to see him all the time because he works with my mother and she just fucking loves him. I see him all the time and he hasn’t quite caught on that I’m not interested. The flowers are just until he gets the hint.”  
Hayes pushed the door open and walked through the foyer, which looked more like a hotel than a home. Hayes smiled brightly at the receptionist, an elderly woman with curly black hair.   
“Good morning Chenice.” Hayes smiled pleasantly.  
“Good morning Hayes. I was beginning to think you weren’t stopping by anymore,”  
“And miss out on the pleasure of your company? Never,”  
The woman gave an amused half smile. “What do we have today?”  
“Petunia’s,” Hayes smiled, handing her the bouquet, “And egg salad,” She handed over the extra sandwich she’d bought. “Can you make sure Wallace gets that right before he leaves tonight?”  
“With pleasure. You stay out of trouble,”  
“No promises.”  
Hayes sauntered out, Tess by her side. 

 

Tess apologized profusely for arriving fifteen minutes late back from her lunch, but Frankie seemed amused more than anything.  
“You’re not the first person to get swept up in her; don’t worry about it,”

Tess sat on her lounge that night in sweats, laptop on her lap as she googled Hayes’ Tattoo shop.   
“Girl you got it bad,” Her roommate, Suyin said, pulling on her boots on the other end of the lounge. “Stalking’s a crime though.”  
“I’m not stalking, I’m just looking at her art.”  
“Girl is art.”   
Tess couldn’t argue with that. Hayes’ profile picture was her in a skirt, heels, and a shirt that revealed her midriff, hair half tied up and curling down her back, strands falling into her perfectly made up face. The tattoos on her arms, stomach and legs were all exposed.   
Tess was slightly ashamed to admit that she’d already saved the picture in her phone.   
“Are you going out?”  
“Yeah I’m meeting Fran for a drink before she heads out to Michigan.”  
“How long will she be gone this time?” Tess asked, wanting to know how long she’d have to put up with her moping roommate until her girlfriend got back.  
“Two weeks. I’ll see ou later, don’t wait up.”  
Suyin left and Tess turned back to her laptop. Refreshing the feed, she noticed that Hayes had put up the shipwreck picture.   
Liking it, Tess quickly closed her laptop and went to bed. 

 

The next day Tess was walking past the tattoo parlour on the way to work when she noticed the sign in the shop.   
Daredevil Alert  
Want a free tattoo but can’t make up your mind. Let us pick and receive a tattoo free.   
See inside for more details.   
Warm coffee burning the palms of her hands as she stepped inside, the heat encasing her body, numb from the chilly wind outside. Hayes looked up from writing something in a notebook in the purple lounge, and Tess blinked in surprise at her appearance. Her hair was the first thing she noticed. Normally either perfectly curled or perfectly messy, her hair was a genuine mess, tied up with a messy knot. Instead of her usual perfect outfit, she was wearing loose jeans and an oversized jumper. Her perfect makeup was absent, and black bags rested below her eyes.   
“Hi,” Tess said softly and sweetly, walking over.  
“Hey,” Hayes said, straightening up.   
“I brought coffee,”  
“Thanks,” Hayes said, straightening it. Tess sat beside her.  
“Are you okay?” She asked, her thumb running along the edge of her cup.   
“Yeah, just… some personal shit. Same old, same old,”  
“Oh,” Tess let the silence hang for a minute before speaking again.   
“I saw the sign in the window, sounds pretty cool.”  
“Yeah, it’s Maxine’s idea. Sort of a promo thing,” Hayes explained, taking a drink of her coffee.   
Just as Tess thought about how six months along and she still hadn’t met the elusive Maxine, the front door buzzed, and in walked a black woman with a young, miserable looking boy under her arm.  
“Morning,” Maxine said, closing the door behind her.  
“Hey,” Hayes said, the miserable boy sitting on the other side of Hayes against the arm rest.   
“Ashton honey why don’t you go upstairs, try and get some rest,” Maxine said, and the boy stood up again, walking over to the spiral staircase.  
“What’s up with patient zero?” Hayes asked.  
“He’s got the flu. His babysitters sick and my dad’s working overtime. He’s got a doctor’s appointment this afternoon but I don’t have anyone else to call.”  
“Its fine, we’ve just got a few piercings and the one tattoo today. This is Tess by the way,”  
Maxine shook Tess’ hand with a quick hello.  
“Thanks. I gotta pick up the ring orders, are you alright to watch him?”  
“Yeah, go ahead.”  
Maxine headed out, and Tess stood up. “I better go; the shop opens soon,”  
Tess was at the door when she heard Hayes.   
“Hey, do you wanna have a drink tonight?”  
Tess spun around, forcing herself to nod so she wasn’t just standing there staring.   
“Yeah, sure.” Tess said, and stepped out into the cold street with a smile on her face.


	2. Gardenia; you're lovely, secret love

Hayes climbed the stairs after Tess left the shop, up to the next level where Ashton had already curled up under a blanket with her iPad.

“Hey kid, how you feeling?” She asked, making her way to her art table.

“My throat hurts,” He mutters pitifully. Hayes gives him a sympathetic look, picking up her black portfolio.

“Want to check out the before of the tattoo I’m doing today?” Hayes offered, knowing Ashton would get a kick out of it. Sure enough Ashton nodded and Hayes sat down in front of him on the floor. Originally the purple lounge downstairs had been there facing the art table, and against the railing, TV. However, Hayes had had it moved downstairs so Ashton could spend occasional days tucked away up here while his mother worked.

Opening the folder, she found todays date on the tab at the top, opening the page. Hayes had spent all of last night finishing the touches on the circle, the size of her palm, inside which was a scene of a beach at night.

“That’s cool,” Ashton said, resting his head on her shoulder.

“Thanks.”  
“When can I have a tattoo?”

“When you’re eighteen. Those are the rules kid,”

Ashton pouted and rubbed his nose. “Can I see some more?”  
Hayes flicked through the complete works, most of which Ashton had already seen but no less enjoyed.

“Hayes?” He asked as she closed the portfolio.

“Yeah?”  
“When I get a tattoo can you design it?”  
Hayes smiled. “Sure. Just make sure you get your mum’s permission first. I don’t feel like bursting into flames anytime soon.”  
Ashton giggled and Hayes stood, heading downstairs to prepare her station for her appointment.

  
“I’m just saying,” Maxine shrugged.

“Well don’t.”  
“Hayes, you haven’t dated anyone since Wallace, and you’re spending a small fortune on sending him those stupid flowers. This girl could be good for you, get your mind off him.” Maxine said as she counted and catalogued the money after their last appointment. Hayes lounged on the fourth tattoo bed, eyes closed.   
“I already asked her out Maxine what more do you want?”  
“Just to make sure you’re actually going to go through with it.”  
“I’ll go through with it. I like this one, remember?”  
“Well you liked Stephanie,”  
“Low blow, Bohen.”  
“I’m not trying to have a go; I’m just saying you don’t have to be nervous. And don’t say you aren’t because I know you are.”

“I’m fine, it’s just a drink.”  
“Where are you going?”  
“Just to the bar a bit away.” Hayes sighed, sitting up and stretching, her eyes still closed. Exhaling a deep breath Hayes opens her eyes, sliding off the end of the bed.

“Ashton! Come on sweetie it’s time to go,” Maxine called. A minute later Ashton’s sneakers pattered down the stairs to his mother.

“Good luck,” Maxine said as she slipped on her coat, her hand on Ashton’s shoulder as she headed out.

“Bye Hayes!” Ashton called, waving behind him. Hayes waved back and headed upstairs; making sure everything was off and clean before heading back down stairs and locking up. Grabbing her coat and bag she set the alarm and locked the door after her, throwing her bag into the back of her car before making her way to the flower shop.

  
Tess finished serving a lovely old man a bouquet of Forget-me-nots for his and his husbands fortieth anniversary when Frankie let her go, insisting he could close up on his own. Tess grabbed her jacket and stepped out into the street, as Hayes walked up.

“Hi,” Tess smiled. Hayes had changed since she’d last seen her, abandoning the loose pants for tight jeans, a long black and grey singlet showed her tattooed arms where the oversized hoodie had drowned her frame. Her hair was brushed and loose, falling over her shoulders.

“Hey,” Hayes smiled black, red lipstick on her perfect mouth, “Ready?”  
“Yeah,” Tess stepped down the step onto the street, falling into place beside Hayes, “Where are we going?”  
“There’s a bar a few streets over, members only so it won’t be too crowded.”  
Tess nodded, her step faltering when it clicked. “Wait, do you mean Dushore?”

“Yeah. Have you ever been there?”  
“No.” Tess muttered. She had never been there, but she knew about it. Her cousin worked there. Her cousin who didn’t know she was gay. Her cousin who would be sure to tell her mother, who would in turn call Tess’ mother as soon as possible, and by the end of the week everyone would know, or at least be speculating about Tess.

Tess’ body freezes and Hayes turns when she notices she’s no longer beside her.

“What wrong?” Hayes asked.

Tess’ chest tightened as she thought for an excuse.

“I… I should actually get home. Early start and everything. Sorry, I have to go,” Tess turned and hurried off, regret tightening her chest.

Hayes stood, watching Tess walk off.

“Fuck,” she muttered, storming off down the alley, getting in her car and slamming the door behind her. This was Stephanie all over again.

 

Tess felt terrible as she woke the next morning, wishing she could just curl up in her blanket and forget about the look on Hayes’ face when she’d backed out of the date. Was it even a date? She knew Hayes was bisexual, but that didn’t necessarily mean that she’d like Tess. Hayes was beautiful, smart, strong, owned her own shop, could probably pick up anyone she wanted, and Tess doubted Hayes wanted her. 

Dragging herself out of bed, Tess went through her routine; healthy breakfast, brush her teeth, dress, brush her hair, put on her shoes, grab her phone, purse, and notebook, placing them in her handbag, double checking that she’d locked the door after she left.

“Morning,” Frankie greeted cheerfully as she walked in, the tinkle of the bell grinding on her already frayed nerves.

“Hi,” She muttered in reply, stashing her back under the counter and setting up the till.

“Late night?” Frankie asked. “Saw you leavin’ with Hayes.”  
“It was nothing,” Tess shrugged. “We didn’t… Nothing happened.”  
“Why not?”  
“What do you mean why not? We just didn’t do anything.”  
“But you were so excited yesterday. What happened?”  
Tess shrugged. Frankie opened his mouth to speak when the door tinkled open, and in walked little Ashton from next door.

“Hey Ashton,” Frankie said, “What do you need?”  
“I wanted to talk to Tess,” He said. Frankie nodded and looked back at Tess.

“It’s for you,” He said, walking back into the office. Ashton walked over and leaned against the counter.

“Do you know what happened to Hayes?”  
Tess felt panic flood her veins. Had something happened to Hayes after she left? Had she been in a car accident or mugged or something? “What happened?” Tess asked urgently.

“She’s been upset all morning.”  
Tess felt the panic leave and the guilt set in. “Oh,”  
“Did something happen yesterday? She’s all quiet and she has an appointment in an hour so she needs to cheer up.”  
“I… it’s nothing. I’m sure she’ll be fine,”  
“I don’t think so. Normally when Hayes is sad she gets bitchy and she’s not so mums worried.” Ashton’s eyes widened and he grimaced. “Please don’t tell my mum I said that.”  
“Your secrets safe with me,” Tess smiled, before it wavered. “I’ll talk to Hayes, sort it out. I hope she’s okay,” She muttered, almost to herself.   
Satisfied, Ashton bought a three gardenia’s and three Dahlia lilacs.

“The lilacs are for my mum,” He said as she tied them up. “She likes purple.”  
“Who are the gardenia’s for?”  
“Hayes,” He said, grabbing the lilacs and walking out of the shop, leaving the gardenia’s on the bench.

 

One o’clock rolled around Tess walked over to the coffee cart in the park, grabbing her coffee and making her way back, trying to think of something to say to Hayes. She was a few shops away from the florist when she saw Hayes walk out of the tattoo shop.

“Hayes!” She yelled loudly, the word bursting out her chest before she could stop it. Hayes jumped, looking around for the source of the outburst and Tess felt like an idiot, but she ran over anyway, stopping a few feet away from the still startled and confused looking Hayes.

“Are you okay?” Hayes asked adjusting the bag strap on her shoulder.

“Yeah,” Tess said, breathing heavily. “I…” She took a second to catch her breath. “What are you doing?”  
“Gotta pick up an order,” Hayes shrugged.   
“You don’t get deliveries at the shop?”  
“No, they’re at my apartment. Shit’s expensive. Gotta be careful.”  
“Oh,” Tess nodded. “Well, do you want to get lunch or something? After, I mean?”  
Hayes hesitated, “You don’t have to do this Tess,” She walked past her down past the florist. Tess ran after her.

“Look, about yesterday. I’m sorry I just… I panicked and-”

“You don’t have to explain Tess, it’s fine.” Hayes sighed, as though she’d delivered the line a hundred times before.

“It’s not. I really wanted to go with you I just…”  
Hayes turned and looked at her. “What?”

Gathering up the remaining courage her fear hadn’t crush down she told the truth.

“My cousin works there. I didn’t want her to see me.”  
“What? You bolted because you didn’t like the club? Why didn’t you just tell me.”  
“I just… it’s a long story. I didn’t know how to explain it.”  
Hayes was silent for a moment. Tess held up the gardenia’s she forgot she was holding for Hayes, who finally cracked a smile, taking them from her.

“Come on Tinkerbell, I’ll let you help me carry these boxes.”  
Tess beamed, walking after Hayes towards the crossing. As they walked through the gates to the park Tess asked, “So do you live around here?”  
“Just on the other side of the park,” Hayes motioned to the old white buildings Tess could see over the foliage on the far side of the park.

“Do you have any appointments today?”  
“Just finished one of those freebies,” She said, shaking her hand from phantom pain.

“What was it?”  
“An owl. Wait, I have pictures,” Hayes pulled out her phone, finding the picture and showing it to Tess.

“That’s beautiful,” Tess said, looking at the blue and green bird Hayes had marked onto the girls shoulder.

“Thanks. First draft was red and blue, it looked like fucking spider man,”  
Tess laughed gave Hayes her phone back.

 

The apartment was white stone, old fashioned, classy. It clashed with Hayes’ tattoo sleeves and torn jeans, but the beauty was as shiningly obvious in the building as it was in the woman who resides there. 

“This place is really nice,” Tess commented, following Hayes up the stairs. The only similarity between the building and Hayes’ tattoo shop was the checker floor. Wall’s stretched up to the sky, white stone steps lined with black styling lead them up to the top floor to a landing. Hayes opened the black door and walked into her apartment. It was huge; the far wall had glass from ceiling to floor, letting the daylight stream in on the open plan apartment. Directly in front of her was the lounge room set up, a U-shape lounge like the one on the second level in her shop faced a large plasma TV. Between the lounge and doors that opened to the balcony was a large art table, boxes and art supplies scattered everywhere, and the walls decorated with hundreds of pictures of tattoos and sketches. Tess smiled.

“You can sit down if you want,” Hayes said, kicking some clothes along to the next seat. “I uh, haven’t put my clothes away in a while. Curse of living alone; you get slack.”  
Tess sat on the lounge, taking it in as Hayes walked over to her art table, opening and looking through the boxes.

“What are you looking for?”

“My new tattoo kit. Thought I’d try it out this afternoon,”  
Tess nodded, looking around, when she noticed a picture on the coffee table, half propped up against the stack of novels.

“Is this you?” She asked, holding up the picture. It was a younger Hayes, probably in her early twenties with a tall man about the same age. They both had their wrists turned towards the camera to display matching tattoos. Tess had seen the little symbol on Hayes’ wrist and wandered what the significance was. Hayes looked happy in the picture, as did the man as they proudly displayed their ink.

“Yeah,” Hayes said, sitting on the lounge next to her.

“Is that your first tattoo?”  
“Yeah. Aaron paid for it when I began my apprenticeship at Golden Heart. Said no respecting tattoo artist should be ‘blank’,”  
“How old were you?”

“It was my twenty first birthday present.”  
Tess was slightly surprised that she had waited those three years for a tattoo.

“Did you always know you wanted to be a tattoo artist?”  
“Not really. My parents are politicians, so art wasn’t exactly encouraged. We’d go to art shows, and I loved them, they were probably the only part of being dressed up and dragged around that I liked, but… the thought of having my art stuck in some room forever was just depressing. My parents were not happy when I got into art school,” she added with a laugh Tess wasn’t buying, “my mum tried to get me kicked out of the school, they even told me if I went they’d kick me out.”  
“That’s harsh,” Tess muttered. She didn’t understand some parents.

“You have no idea. I was studying to go to law school when I told them, they probably weren’t expecting that.”  
 “Is everything okay?” Tess asked tentatively, “I mean, with them?”  
“Not really, but it’s never been okay.” She stood up and walked over to the art table, placing the box with the tattoo gun and another grey box inside, gently swinging it on her shoulder.

 

 

Tess sat at the kitchen table that night on her laptop, Suyin watching some stupid reality show on the living room Television.

Tess jumped as her phone buzzed, announcing a message. Blinking, Tess rubbed her eye, surprised to see the message.

“Hey. It’s Hayes.”

She’d given Hayes her number that afternoon, but she hadn’t expected anything, still suspecting Hayes might still be upset about the broken date.

 _Hi_ she typed back. _What’s up?_

_Bored out of my fucking mind. having dinner with my family._

Tess smiled. _No phones at the table Hayes_

_You sound like my brother._

Her phone dinged again almost immediately. _He told me to put my phone away._

Tess giggled. _What’s so bad about your parents?_

 _They’re_ politicians _Tess. They Fucking_ awful. _If my mother gives me that look about my tattoos one more time I’m rolling up my sleeves._

_Sorry to hear.  Having parents disapprove of life styles sucks_

_Tell me about it. I wonder how hard I’d have to smack my head on a glass table to knock myself out._

_Shouldn’t you be talking to your family?  
Bathroom break_

_Sure Hayes_

_Are you calling me a liar?_

_I would never_

_Good. I know where you live_

_No you don’t_

_Okay no I don’t. But I know where you work, and have an idea of your shifts._

_Great attention to detail Miss Morrison_

_Shit, gotta go, Jackson found me_

Tess didn’t get another text from Hayes that night until she was drifting off in bed, and her alert went off one last time.

_Goodnight Tinkerbell_

**Author's Note:**

> I'm always a slut for comments


End file.
